


Command

by ShayneyL



Category: Star Trek, Star Trek: Voyager
Genre: Asphyxiation, Gen, Pregnancy, Technobabble
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-25
Updated: 2019-10-28
Packaged: 2020-12-27 08:07:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,454
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21115493
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ShayneyL/pseuds/ShayneyL
Summary: Tom has to send either Harry or B'Elanna on what might be a suicide mission.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> All hail ViaBorg. I'm playing with their stuff illicitly.

"Mr. Paris. You're in charge. Assemble your team and launch when ready."

"Yes, ma'am." Apparently it was his turn for command training today. Lately the captain had been trying to give her officers more responsibility. As she would if they were still in the Alpha Quadrant. Training subordinates was, perhaps, the most important element of leadership, if not the most glamorous. It wasn't always possible here in the Delta Quadrant, but this was a quiet section of space, and the captain had been trying to let her officers go without training wheels. 

Tom considered. Usually a mission like this was 2-4 people. Just a routine reconnaissance of a nebula. There were some interesting readings that piqued the Captain's scientific curiosity, and some asteroids that had mineral potential. It wouldn't be particularly long or difficult; one other person should be enough. He looked toward his best friend at Ops. Harry was poised and professional as ever, but Tom knew him well after all these years. He could read the "Pick me! Pick me!" in his eyes, even though he didn't say a word.

Harry wanted the chance to investigate the nebula. Six years in space, and Harry was still as wide-eyed with wonderment as ever. Well, he needed someone with Harry's skills. Tom sure didn't want to do the scanning himself. "Harry, you're with me," he said, heading for the turbolift.

"Take me instead," said B'Elanna, at the engineering station. "You know I'm better at spotting usable deposits than anyone else on this ship."

True enough, but... "B'Elanna, don't you think you should stay here on _Voyager_, now that..."

"Come on, this is a milk run. And I'm not even showing yet. I can still do whatever is required." She paused, then added, "That's why I want to go. Before I get too big to fit through the airlock and have to stay here."

Tom couldn't help smiling at the idea of his petite wife ever getting that large. She'd have to be pregnant with Nausicaan triplets. "Okay," he said. "I'll take you and Harry," he added, before Harry could return to his station. He probably wouldn't need both of them, but he knew Harry would be disappointed if he didn't get to check out this nebula up close and personal. Tom spared a glance toward the captain. She didn't seem to object to Tom making off with both her chief engineer and her chief of ops.

"Just one thing," Tom said. "Remember that I'm the one in command of this mission?"

"Yes, sir," B'Elanna said, heading for the turbolift.

"Am I going to be a third nacelle?" Harry asked, looking at them askance as the turbolift took them to the shuttlebay. 

"This is a mission, not a date, Starfleet," B'Elanna said.

Tom put his arm around his best friend. "What she said. I'm insulted you would even think I would be so unprofessional."

Harry rolled his eyes, but seemed reassured. 

On the _Delta Flyer_, Tom ran through the pre-flight checks with B'Elanna while Harry checked over their equipment. It was probably a good idea to bring both of them after all. B'Elanna could do the practical stuff, like scan for dilithium, while Harry could focus on the pure science.

They got clearance from Ops, and Tom guided the _Delta Flyer_ out of the hangar deck. B'Elanna, in the co-pilot's seat, scanned for usable minerals, while Harry, at the rear station, concentrated on the nebula. Tom programmed in a standard search grid pattern, and let them go to work.

"Look at the metal levels," Harry said. He was going on about star formation cycles or some such thing. Tom turned to meet B'Elanna's eyes, and they shared an amused smile at Harry's enthusiasm. 

Harry noticed. "What? Come on, Tom, didn't you major in astrophysics? This stuff should be square in your wheelhouse."

Tom shrugged. "I just wanted to be a pilot. I had to major in something scientific or technical to get into the Academy." If it had been up to him, he'd have joined the Naval Patrol. But his family expected him to join Starfleet, and he had. The closest he'd gotten to his boyhood dream of going to sea were some sailing and diving courses taken as physical training electives. "Why didn't you major in astrophysics, if you like it so much?"

"I thought about it, but I like engineering, too, and supposedly it was easier to get a starship posting with an engineering degree," Harry said. 

"You should have majored in astrophysics. It's an easier program. You might not be on a starship, but in that case, you'd be safe in the Alpha Quadrant now."

"It would be a waste," B'Elanna said. "He's too good an engineer."

"Thanks," Harry said, blushing a little. "And if I'd stayed in the Alpha Quadrant, I'd never have met you two."

"No regrets, eh, Harry?" Tom asked.

"Well, maybe some," Harry replied. "What was I thinking, letting you drag me into that bar on our last shore leave?"

"Now you know why I never go on shore leave with him," B'Elanna said.

"Hey, did someone declare this 'pick on Tom' day?" 

B'Elanna grinned. "_Every_ day is pick on Tom day."

"Hilarious." Tom shook his head. "I hope the baby inherits my sense of humor."

"Who says it's yours?" B'Elanna teased.

Tom's reply was cut off by a loud crash, shaking the _Flyer_ with an impact that meant some kind of serious damage. All of three of them knew it, even Harry experienced enough now to recognize the sound of crumpling metal plating.

"What the hell was that?" Tom asked. The controls immediately became sluggish, indicating a power problem or control system failure. Or both. 

Harry and B'Elanna, with the ease of years of working together, automatically split the analysis tasks, B'Elanna checking the damage while Harry tried to figure out what happened.

"Something hit the aft starboard section," B'Elanna said. "EPS manifold is offline. I'm shutting down the warp core so we don't vent all the plasma."

"Why didn't we detect it?" Tom asked. 

"I'm not sure," Harry said, not looking up from his readouts. "It looks like there's something in this nebula that's interfering with our sensors." There was another thud, thankfully not nearly as loud. "Let me try adjusting the sweep amplitude..."

"Or we could just look out the window," Tom said. What looked like a cloud of meteoroids was drifting closer and closer. "Deflectors up!"

"They're offline," B'Elanna said. "Almost everything's offline. We barely have enough power for life support. I knew we should have used titanium instead of tetraburnium alloys for the shielding."

"We need to get out of here," Harry said. "We're drifting deeper into that swarm of meteoroids." 

"We're not going anywhere until that manifold is repaired," B'Elanna said.

"Put in a call to _Voyager_," Tom ordered. 

"Already done," Harry replied. "But I'm not sure it got through the interference."

"Great."

"We need to repair the damage," B'Elanna said. "There's spare parts in the cargo bay. How many environmental suits do we have?"

"Just one," Tom said. They adjusted to fit just about anyone, and he hadn't imagined more would be needed. And if they were, they could always be replicated. Except the replicators were no doubt offline now as well.

"I'll go," B'Elanna said. 

"No," Harry protested. "What if you get hit with another meteoroid the size of that first one? I should go."

"Oh, are you impact-proof?" B'Elanna asked.

"No, but..." Harry didn't finish. 

Tom broke in. "This is could be a suicide mission. I can't send either of you. I'll go."

"You can't," Harry and B'Elanna protested, nearly in unison. 

"You don't have the engineering skills," Harry said.

"I designed this shuttle," Tom reminded him.

"Just the conceptual design," B'Elanna said. "The nuts and bolts were done by real engineers."

Tom opened his mouth to reply, but nothing came out. She was right. He didn't have the engineering skills B'Elanna or Harry had. "You can talk me through it," he finally said. 

"Don't be ridiculous," B'Elanna said. "That makes no sense."

It didn't. Unfortunately. "Damn it. I should have majored in engineering," Tom muttered. 

"I'll go," B'Elanna insisted.

"No, I should go," Harry said. "Lanna, you're pregnant." 

"I'm pregnant, not an invalid," B'Elanna shot back.

"You have to think of the baby," Harry said, gently but urgently.

"I am thinking about the baby. And about you, and Tom. Our best chance of survival is if I go. I'm stronger than you, Harry. And I'm the best engineer."

"True," Harry conceded. "That's why you're needed on _Voyager_ more than I am."

"None of us will make it back to _Voyager_ if—"

"Stop," Tom said. "I'm in command. I make the decision."


	2. Chapter 2

Harry and B'Elanna both looked at him, startled. Tom didn't often give outright orders, at least to them.

B'Elanna threw a glance at Harry, then said, "Tom, this isn't the kind of decision anyone should have to make. I think we should draw lots." She saw Tom was going to protest, and hurried to make her case. "Either way, if one of us doesn't come back from this mission...Tom, I don't want you to blame yourself."

Tempting as that was, that was not an option. "This isn't the Maquis, B'Elanna," Tom replied. "We're not going to leave it up to chance. I'm making the decision."

Harry weighed in. "Tom," he said. "I know you feel protective of me. And I appreciate it. But I'm not a kid any more. If we were back in the Alpha Quadrant, I might even outrank you by now." 

"You'd definitely outrank me, because I'd be a civilian." And maybe back in prison, though he didn't say that.

"Tom, I'm just asking one thing: don't think me of as the young ensign who has to be protected. Treat me as you would any other officer when you make your decision." 

Tom thought about it, and nodded. Fair points, all. He looked back and forth between them. His best friend or his wife. He had to send one of them on a mission they might not come back from. The ship shuddered again, reminding him that he didn't have much time to make the decision. 

He had to do this by the book. If the worst happened, he couldn't live with himself if he let his personal feelings influence his decision. He wasn't sure he could live with himself anyway.

He realized Harry was right. Tom did feel protective of him. Had ever since he'd met him, a green kid right out of the Academy. But Harry wasn't that green kid any more.

And B'Elanna — what kind of husband would he be if he sent his pregnant wife into harm's way? But she was the most qualified. She could probably finish the repairs faster, and so reduce the risk. She was stronger, which might end up mattering.

He was well and truly torn, but they were running out of time. He took a deep breath. "Harry, you're going." B'Elanna angrily kicked a console. Harry carefully didn't look at her. He nodded at Tom, and went to get into the environmental suit. B'Elanna stomped off, furious.

Tom went to help gather up the required tools and supplies. The largest item was a shielding plate as big as Harry, that would be needed to repair the break in the hull. Everything had to be tethered to the suit. A dropped tool would be more than an inconvenience. Harry insisted on a duplicate tool kit, just case. 

"Can you manage?" Tom asked, seeing how Harry was struggling with the weight and awkwardness of the things he had to carry. Maybe he should have picked B'Elanna instead.

"It'll be fine once I'm in zero gee," Harry said. 

"Har — I'm sorry," Tom said, and drew Harry into a tight embrace, clumsy as it was with Harry in the environmental suit.

"I volunteered," Harry said. "I want to do this, Tom."

"You're an idiot," B'Elanna's voice broke in. She had come to say goodbye to Harry after all. Tom wasn't sure she would; she had been so angry. He was glad she had overcome her temper. He knew she would regret it if she didn't. "But you're our favorite idiot," she continued. "Good luck, Starfleet. Come back safe." She kissed Harry on the cheek, and he gave her a hug. 

"I will," he said, giving her a smile. Then he sealed his faceplate, and stepped into the airlock. "See you later," he promised.

"Why him, and not me?" B'Elanna asked when the airlock door closed.

"_Voyager_ needs you more," Tom said. Not that they didn't need Harry. Harry had single-handedly saved the ship more than once. But B'Elanna was chief engineer for a reason. That's the reason I sent Harry, Tom told himself. I didn't make this decision based my personal feelings. 

B'Elanna scowled. "Harry is not expendable." 

"Nobody's expendable," Tom agreed. "Especially not Harry." But someone had to go...

They went back to the flight deck, so they could monitor Harry's progress over the comm.

* * *

Harry clipped a short tether to a loop inside airlock, mentally went through the EVA checklist, then opened the outer door. The rush of air flowing out into the vacuum of space pushed him out, along with the shielding plate, strapped to his back.

He clipped another, longer tether to a loop outside the airlock, then released the first tether and shut the airlock door. There was no telling how long it would take him to make the repairs, and he didn't want to leave the inside of the airlock exposed too long.

He made his way aft using portable magnetic grips. Tiny meteoroids peppered the shielding plate, which he did his best to keep between him and the bulk of the projectiles. Every once in awhile a larger rock would whack the plate with enough force to make Harry worry about how he'd get back without the plate to protect him. Too bad they only had one, or he'd have brought an extra, just for protection.

The idea of grabbing a few of the meteoroids for study was very tempting. He suspected that it was something in these fragments of a once or future planet that was generating the interference that got them into this jam. Maybe they could harness it to build some kind of cloaking device. But who knows what effect it would have on the _Flyer_ if brought on board. He couldn't risk it.

The damage wasn't as bad as he feared. Still, it was beyond Tom's capabilities to fix. It had to be either Harry or B'Elanna. Harry planned out the work so everything possible was done before the new deck plate went on. Unfortunately, the old one was in such small pieces they wouldn't be much use as shielding on the way back. He gathered as many of the fragments as he could, to be recycled. 

It went pretty smoothly, all in all. He checked over his work, then maneuvered the plate into position. As tempting as it was to rush, now that he didn't have the plate to shield him, he was careful to do the job right. 

There. He checked the welds with a tricorder, then began packing up his gear. "Kim to Paris."

"Go ahead."

"All fixed. If you have to go to warp, you can."

"We're not moving until you're back inside," Tom replied. 

"I know. Just in case." It wasn't likely, but if some emergency arose, he wanted Tom and B'Elanna to know systems were online again. He grunted as an apple-sized rock hit his shoulder, sending him against the _Delta Flyer_.

"Harry? You all right?"

"Fine. I'm heading back in." His shoulder would likely have an impressive bruise from the blow, but environmental suits were tough. There didn't seem to be any damage. 

Harry was still tethered to the loop by the airlock. It would probably be fastest to pull himself in by the tether, rather than using handholds along the _Delta Flyer_. He released the short tether that held him near the area where he had been working, and began pulling on the longer tether.

He hadn't considered how much the _Delta Flyer_ was shielding him from the debris field until he floated away from it. He was pelted by meteoroids. "Damn it." He pulled himself as quickly as he could along the tether, heading for the airlock. 

"Harry?" Tom's voice sounded worried. 

"A lot of flying rocks," Harry replied. They were coming at him from all sides, and there really wasn't anything he could do to avoid them, dangling out here in the vacuum. Maybe if he had a jetpack, like Captain Proton....

There was a teeth-rattling blow to the back of his neck, that spun him around. A rock the size of a volleyball. That had apparently hit a vulnerable spot. "Warning. An environmental seal has been compromised. Oxygen depletion in thirty seconds." 

Probably damaged the valve that controlled oxygen flow. They really should do something about that weak point in the environmental suit design, he thought, while pulling himself toward the airlock as quickly as possible. He had a minute or two after the oxygen was gone before he lost consciousness. 

Another rock hit him, knocking him off course. He lost some of the progress he'd made, when the tether slipped from his hands. He gripped it more tightly, to make sure it didn't happen again, and resumed pulling himself toward the airlock. 

He realized he was really in trouble. He was increasingly breathless, and his grip was weakening, his vision darkening. Dimly, he heard someone calling his name.

"Harry? Harry, are you all right?" Tom's voice, then B'Elanna's. They sounded faint and distant — the result of the thinning air he was hearing them through.

"Harry, the computer says your suit has been compromised."

"I know. I...might not make it." His own voice was also muffled, and lower and huskier than normal. The scientific part of his mind was interested by this effect of low air pressure on sound. The rest of him knew it meant he was running out of time. He kept pulling on the tether, but he was rapidly losing strength. 

"Harry!" Tom sounded really upset, which made Harry sad. 

"It's okay, Tom. I would do it again." And he would. Tom had made the right decision. The _Delta Flyer_ was repaired. Tom and B'Elanna would make it back. They were yelling things Harry couldn't make sense of, but they would be all right. The tether slipped from his numb hands, but Harry felt at peace. "No regrets. Name the baby after me," he said. And then everything went dark. 


	3. Chapter 3

"Harry! Harry!!!" There was no answer. Tom's heart dropped. He looked at B'Elanna. B'Elanna, who always insisted that Klingons didn't cry, had tears in her eyes. "Can we get a transporter lock on him?"

She shook her head. "I already tried. Not enough power yet. I re-started the warp core but it takes time after a cold shutdown. And who knows if the transporter will even work with all this interference."

"I'm going to get him," Tom said. He headed back toward the airlock.

"Tom! Have you lost your mind? You can't go out there without an environmental suit!"

"Actually, I can. You must have dropped out before the space safety course at the Academy. Humans can survive for short periods in a vacuum."

"Then let me go! I'm stronger than you, I'll be able to pull him in faster."

"No," Tom said. He hit the panel that opened in the inner airlock door. "I'm a pilot, I've had experience working in low oxygen conditions. And I won't make the mistake of trying to hold my breath because of my training as a diver." Holding your breath was the biggest mistake you could make if you somehow found yourself in a vacuum without an environmental suit, though that was the natural response. 

"Tom..."

"There's no time to argue. Harry has two minutes at most." Tom stepped into the airlock. "If I'm not back in five minutes, just go. We won't be alive if I'm not back by then." He wanted to kiss her goodbye, but there was no time. "I love you," he said, and shut the inner airlock door.

Usually the transition from Earth standard pressure to vacuum was gradual, but Tom bypassed the usual sequence. He gripped a handhold tightly, and hit the override, forcing the outer door to open as quickly as possible. 

The air blew out into space is a rush, making Tom's ears pop. He exhaled, as he'd been trained. He should clip a tether on, but there was no time. He hooked an arm through the handhold instead, and peered out of the airlock. He saw Harry's tether immediately, connected beside the outer hatch, and began hauling it in. Harry was weightless in space, and Tom was able to brace himself inside the airlock and quickly pull him to safety. He couldn't tell if his friend was still alive in the environmental suit. 

There. Harry was inside the airlock. He was suddenly heavy, now in the influence of the _Flyer_'s artificial gravity. Tom wrestled with the cumbersome body, finally getting him inside and dropping him on the floor rather unceremoniously. "Sorry, Har," Tom mouthed, but there was no time to be gentle. His heart was thudding with the lack of oxygen, and he was starting to feel dizzy. 

He struggled to unhook Harry's tether. The lack of oxygen was making him clumsy. His lungs were burning, and things were starting to get fuzzy. He finally managed to release the tether and pull it inside. But he had no strength left to close the airlock door and begin re-pressurization. He fell heavily to the deck.

So close, and yet so far. He struggled to get up, or at least get to his knees so he could reach the control panel. His body refused to obey him. If there were air, he could give the command verbally, or ask B'Elanna to do it, but there wasn't. And with sensors offline, she would have no way of knowing what was happening. Too bad he wasn't telepathic... 

He was starting to lose consciousness when he thought he saw the airlock door moving. A hallucination caused by a dying brain? No...it really was moving. B'Elanna! B'Elanna must have been monitoring them somehow. _Thank you_, Tom thought. _I knew there was a reason I married you. _

The door slid all way shut, and air began filling the lock. It was thin and inadequate at first, but quickly grew to Earth normal. He gulped at it, never so thankful just to breathe. 

Harry was lax and unmoving beside him. Tom took his hand, and squeezed it. There was no response. He hoped it wasn't too late. They might have to put him in stasis until they got back to _Voyager_. They didn't have the equipment for a code white resuscitation on the _Flyer_. 

It seemed to take forever, but finally the pressure equalized, and the inner hatch opened. 

"Tom!" B'Elanna was kneeling beside him. _Harry, check on Harry_, he wanted to tell her, but he couldn't speak.

He didn't have to. B'Elanna was bending over Harry, opening his faceplate. Then she threw herself over Tom. 

Tom hugged her in return. He pulled in a deep lungful of air. It was tinny and antiseptic, and oh so wonderful.

"Are you all right?" B'Elanna asked.

Tom took a mental inventory. "Yes," he said, finally finding his voice. "I'm fine." He felt weak and out of breath, but other than that, he was okay. "Did you get the sensors working?" 

"No," she said. "Still too much interference."

"Then how'd you know when to close the airlock door?" 

"I was standing on the other side of the door with a tricorder. Much less interference at such short range."

Of course. "You're a genius. How's Harry?"

"He's breathing," she said. 

He gave her a kiss. "Go get the medikit. I'll check him over, then we'll get out of here."

* * *

"Wake up, Harry. You're sleeping on the job." 

Harry jerked awake, trying to sit up. Firm hands pushed him back down. "Relax, I was joking."

Tom. It was Tom. Harry looked around, confused. He was lying on a bed in the surgical bay of sickbay. 

Sickbay? "How did I get here?" he asked, amazed that he wasn't dead. "Did B'Elanna get the transporter working?"

"No," Tom said. 

"Tom went out and got you," B'Elanna said. She was standing a few feet away. 

"Went out and..." Harry puzzled over that for moment. "Without an environmental suit?"

"Captain Proton to the rescue." 

"Tom, are you crazy? That was a hell of a risk."

"I never thought I'd have to use the emergency training we got in Space Safety 301," Tom said. "But if your best friend dying just a few meters away doesn't qualify as an emergency, I don't know what does."

Harry couldn't believe it. Tom went out in the vacuum of space in his shirt sleeves. To save Harry. "You should have stopped him," he said, looking at B'Elanna. She was standing on the other side of a force field, he noticed.

"Probably, but I kind of like you alive, Harry," she said dryly.

And Harry abruptly realized how ungrateful he was being. He wanted to yell at Tom and tell him he was a father now and couldn't keep doing stuff like this. Instead, he swallowed his protests and apologized. "I'm sorry. Thank you for saving my life."

"Any time," Tom said. He sat at the foot of the biobed; Harry moved his legs to make room. 

"What's the force field for?" 

"We're both being treated for decompression sickness," Tom said. "The bends."

"Oh." Harry remembered that that was the major side effect of spacewalking without a suit, at least if you did it right.

"You should have let me go," B'Elanna said. "I wouldn't have screwed it up."

"Probably not," Harry said. She would have been smaller target for all those meteoroids, anyway. He could still hardly believe he was alive. That they were all alive. "Are you all right?"

"We're all fine," Tom said. "More or less. You and I will spend a few hours here getting hyperbaric treatment, and we'll be fit for duty again." Tom noticed Harry's gaze moving to B'Elanna. "B'Elanna and the baby are fine, too."

"I guess you don't have to name the baby for me after all," Harry said.

"That's why I had to rescue you," Tom said, grinning. "'Harry' is a terrible name for a little girl."

**Author's Note:**

> This was an oblique response to "Deadlock." People don't die instantly in the vacuum of space. If someone fell out of a hull breach, the reasonable reaction wouldn't be, oops, they're dead. It would be to try and get them back. 
> 
> A human can live about two minutes without breathing, and they've established on _Voyager_ that people can be revived after being dead for two minutes, thanks to 24th century technology. (Sometimes longer, depending on the needs of the plot. ;-) So they had four minutes to rescue Harry in "Deadlock," but didn't even try. I know, there were dramatic reasons to do it the way they did, but the science always bugged me.


End file.
